Comeback
by Ryucotsa
Summary: In the middle of the summer, I'm not sleeping, cold wind blowing. You knew in five minutes, but I knew in a sentence. So why do we go through all of this again? Your eyes are fluttering, such pretty wings. A moth, flyin' into the same old flame again.
1. Chapter 1

Hello all! After years of excel I'm back! (Not my story's however! No matter how much you beg and plead!) Instead of coming back with an anime fic that made me famous years ago, I'm gonna write a Tales crossover. Anyway, It's great to be back, and just in case anyone is wondering, I'm a much better writer than I was years ago! Anyway this is my comeback story! If it's terrible I'm quitting forever, lest I create another story like "Zachary" That caused my to quit for 4 or 5 years… So lets begin the generic way with my disclaimer!

(I do not own any of the Tales series of games; they are property of Namco! Any resemblance to actually peoples or persons is purely awesome, Thank you)

"Generation" 

_A call into the night, an invitation to the past, but rebuking the present, with the purple sky of creation overhead. _

_Two hearts, two souls, two worlds, became one, bonded with the Eternal Sword, and overflowed with Mana._

_The roots of ever flowing life. The power of the soul itself materialized. Countless lives are connected by it, and countless lives are it source of food._

_The heroes of yesterday today and tomorrow need the Saviors of the two worlds, and so the Saviors do need the Heroes._

_The world lies at perils doorstep. The very fabrics of time bend. Was their victory the end or merely the claim before the storm?_

A wise man once said, "Truly if there is evil in this world, in lies within the hearts of mankind". These words echo in my mind. But a strong heart once believed " Goodness and Love will always win" with all of it's might. The strength of this heart came long before the wisdom of this man. If only this heart could have touched this man, then perhaps none of the suffering would ever have happened.

_Heart and mind, every man picks one to live by, and every man dies knowing, often regretting, his choice…_

After the fall of Mithos, the Saviors of the two worlds had gone there separate ways; Genis and his sister had disappeared, gone to explore the world. Zelos returned to his homeland, so as to keep his fingers in all the political pies of the nation. The legendary Kratos seemed to have dropped out of existence, very few actually know his whereabouts. Colette returned home to her family. Regal and Presea currently reside at a beach resort, (though not romantically). But what of Lloyd and Sheena? They have a personal quest, a self-righteous mission, if you will, to rid the world of Exspheres, so that human life may never be taken for the purpose of power…

Lloyd and Sheena had set off on their personal "quest" more or less the day after the defeat of Mithos. The quest had only begun, and it was becoming painfully obvious to Lloyd that this quest was not going to be a short one…

Lloyd was sitting upright; it was a wonderful day, sun shining overhead. He had a sack of some sort, and was dropping red glowing balls into it, counting them as he picked them up.

"27, 28, 29, 30, plus the ones from the human ranch, so that makes… Arrrgh! Sheena!" Lloyd yelled "How many Exspheres did we get from the human ranch?" He was rubbing both sides of his head with his hands and violently shaking his head

"73, we obtained 73 at the human ranch" Sheena said, very calmly, sprawled out on her back.

"Um… How many have we gotten outside the ranch?" Lloyd said, scratching the back of his head

"30…" Sheena said with a hint of irritation in her voice

"Ok thanks!" Lloyd shouted returning to his work. There was about a 12 second silence before Lloyd said; "Sheena…"

"Yes Lloyd?" Sheena said opening her eyes and turning to look at Lloyd. There was another short silence. Lloyd had a very serious look in his eyes. Sheena started to look embarrassed and turn red. Suddenly Lloyd smiled, closed his eyes, grabbed the back of his head and said

"How many did we get from the Ranch again?" Sheena's right eye twitched. She jumped up and yelled

"Darn it Lloyd! For the last time 73! Those with the 30 we've received from the Renegades so far, makes 103! STOP ASKING!" Still sitting, and smiling, Lloyd said

"Oh yeah, thanks!" as if her reaction was a normal one. Sheena laid back down kicked one of her left foot over her right leg and closed her eyes.

"Hey Lloyd" she said, almost as soon as she had hi the ground. "Why are you counting them?"

"Each one is humans life…" Lloyd said, acting forlorn suddenly. "Each one of these people had a mother, a father, even a family of there own perhaps…"

"Lloyd…" Sheena whispered. Lloyd perked up, smiled, and said!

"All the more reason for us to find them all!" Sheena's face lightened up.

"Lloyd, your strength is surpassed only by your compassion" Lloyd closed his eyes and smiled.

"Your dork! Don't say that kinda mushy stuff about me" he said with a laugh. Though he would deny this to the death, he really did have compassion for all living beings. Sometimes it was this compassion that kept him going. "Well, let be on our way!" he said, standing up, dusting himself off, and throwing the sack full of Exspheres over his shoulder.

"Oh come on Lloyd!" Sheena pleaded "I was up all night! I'm tired!"

"Oh yeah…" Lloyd said, just then remembering, "What were you doing all night? You were constantly up and down. And you were making a lot of rattling noises." Sheena turned a red so light you wouldn't have noticed unless you were looking. And with her eyes still closed she said

"Er… Anyway, give me an hour or so of rest." And with that she rolled away from Lloyd and turned a deep shade of red, just before falling asleep…

"Speculation" 

"From some perspectives, that makes him the hero, and us the villains…" These were the finale, and most flattering, remarks concerning Dhaos, ever to be spoken. To think that there was a good side to that monster that hated this world and all who inhabited it. To think that there was a light in that realm of shadows. To imagine that Dhaos had a side that was fighting for the good of his own peoples. This is hard to understand, if you ever saws the side of him that seemed to take joy in killing innocents, that corrupted souls, and even destroyed families. No matter of dark his soul was, no matter how evil his actions were, he did it all for the love of his people.

But no matter if all the love in the world resided within him, there was still the undeniable fact that part of him killed and destroyed, often for little more than pleasure. His defeat was more a rescue from what he had become, than the fall of a mighty warrior. The evil in him was crushed. All that remained was the purity of his body.

But what of his evil side? Could such a chaotic, uncontrollable, presence, be destroyed? The most basic of eleven teachings tell us that Mana is only consumed when it is converted to our level of existence, when we can feel it. If Mana is truly our life force, then couldn't we assume that over days, weeks, even years, Mana could be courted? That our very life force could reflect our personality? That the very optima of our good, or evil lives, could be encapsulated, and hold the most evil, of most good, parts of our soul? Existing outside our physical spectrum? Awaiting a body. A body that could contain even enhances its power?

"Vision" 

Lloyd had been by himself for several hours. Sheena was asleep, and he had no intention of disturbing her. He could only imagine what Sheena was capable of when she was angry…

It was a grassy forest, where he and Sheena were, and the sun's rays penetrated the treetops only in choice areas, creating rays of light. It was a cool day and Lloyd was neither too hot nor too cold, though the weather favored the heat. Lloyd saw a large Maple tree, and smiled

"Perfect!" he said. He ran to the maple and jumped to the nearest branch, swung his legs up and caught the branch with his feet. He inched his was to the next branch, and with a show of acrobatic fiancé, he jumped atop the highest branch within his reach.

Lloyd lay on his back and starred up at the leafy canopy above him. A ray of light was shining on the left side of his face. Though it didn't bother him much, he turned to avoid the light blinding him. But when he turned, a new light started to shine on him. A red light. Suddenly, the world around him started to fall away. The light was shadowing him. His world was becoming engulfed in red. He was flouting, about the same height his was before, but without the feeling of support. He was in a world that was not his own. The stars were below him. He could see five people, people his age. Three boys and two girls, Standing before and very large, blonde man. The blonde man seemed to have two balls flouting around him…

"Are those…" Lloyd? Said in a whisper, squinting for a better view "Are those Exspheres?"

There was a bright flash, and the blonde man was lying on the ground. But what is this? One of the Exspheres flew into his body and the other one… Seems to have disappeared…

There was another bright flash and Lloyd felt himself hit the ground and in a moment was looking up at Sheena.

"Jeez! Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" Sheena said, looking down at Lloyd with her hands on her hips.

"Hey Sheena, did you… Never mind…" Lloyd hand-sprung to his feet and said, "Come on!" and started walking Sheena hit herself in the head and said;

"I'll never figure you out Lloyd…" and with that they were off

Well there it goes! IF you want more, review it, if you don't, flame me, I don't care!

Anyway hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everybody! Thanks, to you who wrote my your messages of encouragement! I am proud to be writing again! But don't let me get lazy! Ok, now that I've used three "!" and I'm satisfied I'll get on with what you're here for (I hope)…

"Indignation" 

Mithos was defeated. Dhaos was defeated. The Darkness was defeated. With the fall of Darkness, the Light reins supreme. But a Shadow cannot exist without the Light. Without war, we would not know the meaning of peace. Without death, we cannot know what it means to live.

So it is with the Darkness. With out the Light we would know neither of Darkness, or Light.

But when the Darkness swallows the Light, what little Light there is, shines all the brighter. And so it is with the Darkness. With the Light seems near blinding, what little Darkness there is, becomes Black, like an area of the world that was not created, or destroyed, just forgotten.

The Darkness was defeated. And the Light reigned supreme. But one dot of Darkness remains. Small, Hidden, but very powerful. Its own defeat enrages it. The very idea that something more powerful than it exists is like slow torture.

The Darkness always comes with The Light. Perhaps even with good intentions. But Darkness is Darkness; it will eventually show it's true charter, when as little Light as possible is around…

"Fundamental" 

"Sheena… I hate deserts!" This was not an extremely odd thing to say considering Lloyd and Sheena were indeed, IN a desert. "I mean seriously! What have they got going for'um? There hot, There's very little water, and creatures in the desert are meaner because there's no food ANYWHERE" Lloyd said franticly, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Lloyd…" Sheena said, pausing for a moment "two days ago you said you couldn't wait to get tot the desert because it would be a nice break, also, you mentioned something about absolutely loving, and I quote 'the sun, the mystery, and simple and sweet allure of vast open spaces'…"

Sheena looked at him, closed her eyes, and put her hand on her head in distress. There was a long awkward pause before Lloyd said

"Anyway, I think we should set up camp."

"But it's still daytime" Sheena said, in a somewhat confused voice

"That's the point! It's cooler at night, plus we can use the stars to navigate!"

"Well I guess that makes sense…" And so it was, that they set up camp, in the middle of the afternoon. They set up the same as always, they slept on opposite sides of a fire that was in the center.

Now, Lloyd being the blunt and honest person he was, and Sheena being the good listening and inquisitive person that she was, it was not unusual for the them to spend three or four hours talking. Being the middle of the day and neither of them were very tired, they talked for nearly six hours.

Of the many things they talked about that day, most notables were a certain comment Sheena made that night

"Lloyd, do you think we did the right thing? I mean, about Mithos… Could he have changed? Could he have become different? Overtime? I changed. Is it possible that we did the wrong thing? Yes, I know he hurt many innocent people, but seeing him pled for death…"

"Sheena" Lloyd interrupted "A long time ago my dad told me a story; in a certain village, far away, the only way that a boy could become a man, was to scale a very tall mountain. It was a certain boy's rights of passage one day, so he packed up and headed up the mountain. After days of travel the boy finally reached the snowcapped summit. He was about to head back down the mountain when he heard a voice. He searched for a while, until he found a rattlesnake. It was the snake who was talking. The snake said 'please! Bring me down the mountain! I'll die if I'm up here much longer!' The boy quickly refused saying that the snake would kill him. But the snake said 'If I kill you I'll never make it off this mountain'. This made sense to the boy, so he started down the mountain, with the snake. When they reached to bottom, the boy set the snake on the ground. The snake, warming up in the sun, coiled up. Suddenly, he jumped out and bit the boy in the neck. The boy, realizing what had just happened, said ' Why did you do that? Now I'm gonna die! And I saved your life!' The snake, said to the boy, in his dying moments 'I bite you because I am a snake, that's who I am.'" Sheena, amazed by Lloyd words of wisdom said

"Lloyd, I think that's the most intelligent thing I've ever heard you say!" and she smiled, breaking the otherwise somber moment.

"Come on Sheena Gimme a break!" Lloyd said, hanging his head in disappointment.

"Interruption" 

"I can't accept it… I lost. I the great and mighty warrior! I cannot, will not, accept that I lost!"

This sprit of Darkness, now separate from the Light, dwells on its defeat. If capable it would destroy everything just to prove to itself that it was able. This is the most pure, true, and otherwise pitiful state of the Darkness. Living in the past, trying, straining for a way to change it's past. It exists as nothing more than energy. It is incapable of anything but thought in this state. Existing as nothing more than a sprit. Not existing on any physical scale.

But wait! What's this great amount of human sprit? Though distant, further than any scale can measure, there lies a great amount of human sprit. 50, no, 60, no! Many sprits perhaps over 100!

"This should be enough"

The Darkness was not held by linear boundaries. Though the collection of sprit was far away, soon very soon he would be near enough to…

All right then! Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did writing it

Time taken: 2 days (thanks mainly to anime box sets!)


	3. Chapter 3

Ok back to work, sorry about the long wait, if anyone cares… anyway, you guys should really review more! It might encourage me to write more!

"Embezzlement" 

A body? One of physical stature? Impossible, unthinkable, incomprehensible, for a being existing only on a spiritual scale! Such a thing is defined impossible by all writing, Eleven and Human alike. But he would risk everything for one more attempt, one more battle. And this time, nothing would hold him back from absolutely annihilating any resistance that came his way.

It had been many hours since Lloyd and Sheena had fallen asleep. Nightfall was upon them and Lloyd was starting to awaken. At first he was slightly confused, seeing as how it was dark. He at first thought that he was just waking up early, before realizing that he was in the desert. Still, he was disoriented.

After a few moments of stretching and popping his joints, He got up and started to head over to Sheena to wake her up. He had taken perhaps four steps, yawning the whole way, when a light caught the corner of his eye. It was a strangely similar red light. That's when it hit him. It was the same red light that he had seen in the woods.

The world turned a light shade of red. Everything froze. The wind. The air. The gentle specs of sand hitting Lloyd in the face. It all stopped. Movement altogether stopped. Then, down from the sky, like a God bolt came a very red, very fast ray of light. The light was very bright, and looking at it made Lloyd feel very angry.

The brightness of the light was starting to hurt Lloyd's eyes. So he looked at the base of the light. It was then that he noticed where the light was shining on. It was shining on the bag of Exspheres.

Before Lloyd had a chance to do anything, down came what looked like a large Exspheres. It smashed right into the bag, but surprisingly enough, there was no explosion. Not even a blast from the sand beneath him.

Then is a rather quick and frightening manner. All the Exspheres started moving, on there own no less! They started flouting. They stacked and formed the outline of what looked to be a giant, an ogre.

Then with a flash, the Exspheres were no more. And in their place, stood a man, twice the size of Lloyd. Merely looking at him filled Lloyd with a since of anger, accompanied by fear. Lloyd tried to yell, but no words would come from his mouth.

Lloyd took a new approach. He drew his swords. These were no longer his favored swords, his Material Blade, but rather a very plan, but none the less very effective pair of swords that he had made for himself.

Lloyd trust at the man, then for a brief moment he wondered why he was attacking the man. The man hadn't hurt anyone; he had not done anything wrong to Lloyd. Then in a flash like lightening Lloyd saw the Exspheres. The Exspheres were the man, and the man was the Exspheres.

Lloyd pushed threw and stabbed the man in the upper groin with the sword in his left hand. Lloyd swung his right hand for a follow up blow, the sword was moving faster then Lloyd had anticipated. Then, the sword stopped. But why? The man had, grabbed the sword between his left thumb and forefinger. And then the man's right arm came down on Lloyd like the Sword of Destruction. His arm hit Lloyd on the top of the head, knocking him to the ground.

Lloyd was on the ground, lying on his stomach. He looked up, only to see the Man's foot stomp on his head. Lloyd was restrained, he couldn't look up. He felt the man's foot pressing down on his head. Lloyd closed his eyes, and placed his hand, palm down, on the ground. With a sudden trust, Lloyd sprung himself up, and jumps a step back. He glared at the man. His sword was still in him. Then Lloyd decided on an all or nothing strategy.

Lloyd dived forward and grabbed his sword, with all his might he pulled the sword sideways. The sword came flying out cut the man deeply in the side. This wound would be enough to kill a normal man. But, upon examination of his sword, Lloyd saw no blood! In fact with a glance at the man he saw that, the man did not bleed, it looked as if nothing had happened at all. All of this happened in a very short time, but to Lloyd, in seemed like an eternity. Then, without warning, The man jumped and Lloyd, holding his right wrist in his left hand. And like clockwork, the man's elbow had been flung right into Lloyd's face.

Lloyd flew backwards. Nearly 10 feet! He looked to his left, he saw a motionless Sheena, still asleep, still frozen in time. At this Lloyd smiled and closed his eyes. Then he heard a voice.

"My name is Dhaos ,and soon the whole world will fear me"

This is the last of what Lloyd heard before his whole world turned black…

Well, tell me what you think,

Time taken; 2 weeks (due to procrastination and anime!)


	4. Chapter 4

Ok, Sorry about my inconsistencies, but really! No reviews! I know my work has slipped, but that only because I don't believe in proof reading!

Retaliation 

No light, the one thing beyond all others that stuck out was that there was no light. But the thing that made it stick out was that it wasn't dark. It was the absence of everything. It is perhaps, the most horrible feeling in the world. Nothing seems wrong at first, but then an over whelming feeling of loneliness arises. Complete and utter loneliness. Nothingness, it's the worst feeling in the world.

This is what Lloyd was feeling. This is the state his mind was in. This is the condition that he entered after he was beaten. Lloyd felt very sad. He felt angry as well. But the most of any emotion he was feeling was fear.

Lloyd felt an icy cold, yet very soft object, brush across his face.

Of all the saving graces and pleasant surprises he had ever gotten in his life, how thankful he was for this one. Soon the rest of his world came back into perspective. He felt the changing surface of the sand beneath him, the cool collision of the desert air. Then, he opened his eyes. He saw the stars. The most glorious sight he could fathom.

Then, sound returned to his world. He heard the faint sound of nostalgic chanting mixed with irregular sobs. Sad and yet strangely enticing.

Lloyd turned to face where the noise was coming from. And there he saw Sheena, not but a few feet away, looking down at him with swollen eyes and a grin on her face.

Lloyd tried to get up, but the second he moved, an insurmountable pain short though his body. He fell back to the ground.

At about this point Sheena leaped forward and grabbed Lloyd around the neck, though causing immeasurable pain; it was a welcomed embrace.

"Lloyd! Lloyd!" Sheena cried. Her eyes were red and she was squeezing Lloyd's neck, crying intensely.

"Sheena" Lloyd said quietly "you're hurting me"

"Oh!" she said and dropped him quickly. Then there was a moment where neither of them said anything. They just looked at each other, Lloyd with a faint smile on his face, and Sheena with a tear in her eye. Sadly this moment would not last very long.

That familiar light started shining in Lloyd's eyes again. It was dimmer this time than the times before. But there was a certain unique property of this light. It wasn't shining, it was concentrated, and strangely enough in a triangle pattern.

Slowly, what looked like broken fragments of glass, fell from the sky and on top of each other, stacking up. But even more surprising, the fragments of glass seemed to be forming two bodies. Then, there was a quick flash. And before Lloyd and Sheena was a Boy, with blonde hair, and a sword at his side, standing next to a girl that could only be described as a temple maiden, with a cleric hat.

All done for now! Review me dang it!


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